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tv   Happening Now  FOX News  December 7, 2012 8:00am-10:00am PST

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unemployment. cairo ace mess. what is going to happen in syria? who knows. martha: they want to end the show on a high note. bill: i'm building up to it. martha: it's christmastime in the city. how ab go with that. martha: let's go with that. you go with that too. "happening now" starts right now. see you back here on monday, everybody,. jon: breaking this hour a tsunami warning has been lifted following 57.3 magnitude earthquake in japan. the quake striking off the northeastern coast but felt as far away as tokyo. japanese authorities say no problems are detoebgted at the nuclear power plants closes to the epicenter. it triggered a three foot tsunami in the same area devastated in last year's disaster. no deaths reported. more on this story out of japan coming up in a live report. jenna: right now brand-new stories and breaking news. jon: house speaker john boehner coming out on top. what was the intra party
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skirmish all about? we have the answers. a big seat to fill, they call him the king maker. conservative senator jim demint calling it quits who. will step in and what the change will mean for the next congress. if you're looking for an out of this world vacation, yes, you can have it literally, a trip to the moon for two, we are guessing it is all-inclusive, the whole story and the stunning price tag, all "happening now." good morning to you on this friday, the jobs numbers are in for november. i'm jon scott help the. >> reporter: i'm heather wheuld dreshelp the heather childress in nor jenna lee. >> it had more stimulus spending
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than it had in cuts and an indefinite, infinite increase in the debt limit like forever. four days ago we offered a serious proceed proceeds albased on testimony of president clinton's former chief of staff. since then there's been no counter offer from the white house. instead reports indicate that the president has adopted a deliberate strategy to slow walk our economy right to the edge of the fiscal cliff. instead of reforming the tax code and cutting spending the president wants to raise tax rates. even if the president got the tax rate hike that he wanted, understand that we would continue to see trillion-dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see. listen, washington has got a spending problem not a revenue problem. if the president doesn't agree with our proposal i believe that he's got an obligation to families and small businesses to offer a plan of his own, a plan
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that can pass both chambers of the congress. we are ready and eager to talk to the president about such a plan. >> you did speak with the president earlier this week, can you characterize that call? did he have any kind of counter offer? also, we understand that he is making clear that it's got to be increase in rates for the wealthy or no deal. are you willing to give a little bit maybe not all the way to 39.6? >> the phone call was pleasant, just more of the same. the conversations that the staff had yesterday, just more of the same. it's time for the president, if he's serious, to come back to us with a counter offer. >> the jobs report today indicated unemployment is down roughly a full point from this time last year. a lot of folks in the business community say if no deal is going to happen it could obviously hurt american jobs prospects. they always say, where are the
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jobs, they seem to be coming along. judge take such a risk when the jobs number is improving. >> because the risk the president wants us to take increasing tax rates will hit many small businesses that produce 60 to 70% of the new jobs in our country. that is the whole issue here. >> speaker -- you violated the rules. sorry. >> speaker. secretary timothy geithner said the president was absolutely willing to go off the cliff if he doesn't get the tax increase. >> i think that is reckless ta talk. >> you said flatly taxes are not going up. is that the case. >> listen, raising taxes on small businesses are not going to help our economy and those seeking work. i came out the day after the election to put revenues on the table, to take a step toward the president to try to resolve this. when is he going to take a step towards us?
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>> can you see some way that you could agree to tax rate increase and protect small businesses at the same time, maybe going with the 37%, or some middle ground? >> there are a lot of things that are possible to put the revenue that the president seeks on the table, but none of it is going to be possible. if the president insists on his position, insists on my way or the highway. that is not the way to get to an agreement that i think is important for the american people and very important for our economy. thanks. >> reporter: for more on the fiscal cliff let's bring in bob sue sack, managing editor of the hill. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. >> reporter: he says this is a slow walk for our economy to the edge of the fiscal cliff, and if the president doesn't like the republican's plan he has an obligation to send them one that can pass both houses of congress
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as quickly as possible. what is the middle ground here? >> well, they are nowhere near the middle ground. a lot of posturing going on. i think you'll see that for at least another week or two. the sticking point is, it's tax rates, and speaker john boehner was asked a question of whether he could be flexible on that. he really didn't indicate he was going to do that. democrats say fresh off their election win he must do that. maybe it's not 250,000, maybe it's higher where they protect sphaupl businesses between 250,000 or 750,000 and a million. there has to be some type of compromise. if republicans are going to go for tax rate increases they'll have to get significant returns as far as the entitlement reforms. that is the rub right there. >> reporter: let's talk a little bit more about entitlement reforms. as it stands right now the president's plan calls for 1.6 trillion in tax increases and roughly doubles what was previously suggested and 200 billion in new stimulus
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spending. so what guaranteed cuts is the president offering? >> nothing yet. he put a lot on the table in the summer of 2011 when it was john boehner again and obama, they almost got a grand bargain e. talked about raising the medicare eligibility age to 67 over a certain amount of time. making changes to cost of living. statements to soegt social security. right now there is nothing on the table. that was obama's opening bid. the republicans were miffed at him, they knew he wouldn't give them exactly what they'd accept. a few said they were inch superintendented like that. again you don't want to negotiate with yourself, you want to start over here and get in the middle to set up some type of deal. don't expect any deal until christmas at the earliest. >> reporter: let's go back to the tax cuts you're talking about. president obama wants to raise revenue by taxing those making $250,000 or more a year. it rises from 33% and 35% today to 36% and 39.6%, i believe.
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but that would only generate about 85 billion a year. according to the treasury department, the federal government spends that amount every eight 1/2 days. do you think that the point is purely political for the president since that's what he campaigned on? >> that is what speaker john boehner said, is that washington has a spending problem, not a tax problem. but speaker john boehner has a political problem in that their party's guy lost the election. there is no doubt about it that the math on both sides, they are far apart. and if you add up all the revenue that will only last of eight days of funding the federal government. but there has to be compromise. republicans will have to give some ground on taxes, whether it's 800 billion, or 1.6 trillion, maybe 1.2 trillion or in that range. of course whatever deal they reach they have to get the votes for, and that's just the beginning. this fiscal cliff deal if they reach one it's just the beginning of deal making because it's not going to solve the problem. there is going to be more talks
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going into 2013 on tax reform and dealing with the deficit further. >> reporter: bob cusack thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. jon: let's talk a little bit more about the pickle that house speaker john boehner is in. he's struggling to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. he's facing growing criticism from members of his own party, the speaker removing four conservative congressman from key committees, the move seen by some as a way to close ranks over a potential fiscal cliff deal with the white house. outside conservative groups are voicing their displeasure saying speaker john boehner could even lose his speakership. carl cameron joins us live in washington. so he has a lot of problems with conservatives right now, car. >> reporter: sure it's not just off the hill. some of the members on the hill. fiscal conservatives are once again whispering, in some cases outwardly and openly explaining about house speaker john boehner and his handling of the negotiations with the white house. john boehner's proposal to increase revenue $800 billion by
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closing tax loopholes and reforming the code has real problems for some house republicans, most of whom actually campaigned promising to at least hold the line if not cut taxes. this week john boehner tossed four con s*efr teufs known fo conservatives offer key committees. the budget committee and the financial services committee. those four members are complaining but their removal from the committee and john boehner's proposal are supported by majority eric cantor. kevin mccarthy and paul ryan. this is a low-boil kind of an internal fight right now. there is big concern among fiscal conservatives on and off the hill how much john boehner may bend in light of the 2012 elections. it may boil over into an all out rebellion, jon. jon: is there really the possibility of him losing his speakership? >> reporter: it depends on how republicans deal with their loss necessary 2012.
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how they deal with the fiscal cliff. this could prove to be a very fork in the road. the her teenage foud in yesterd. south carolina senator stkwr*eupl demint who is leading the senate to head up heritage foundation has issues with what john boehner has been doing. it's all about this counter offer to the president on tax increases. the conservative blog red state went after him. freedom works which backs tea party groups and the club for growth is really the big one. they spent $10 million going after republicans who they thought weren't conservative enough in the last election. listen to what they have to say about john boehner now. >> when he couples this conservative purging with a negotiated tax increase of $800 billion we are starting to see more and more signs that he's not dedicated to fiscally conservative beliefs. >> reporter: mr. roth said if he doesn't watch it he can lose his speakership and there are others in the city talking about what they can do to reign in the g.o.p. leadership as a group from raising taxes after republicans spent the last year on the campaign trail saying
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that they would at least hold the line good not cut them. jon: he is certainly in a tough position. carl cameron thank you. >> reporter: the bloody civil war rocking syria rebels appear to be gaining ground in the city of damascus. this is fueling concerns that bashar al-assad may resort to desperate mets yourself to hold onto power. we are learning more about the damage from a powerful earthquake in japan. the 77.2 quake sparking a tsunami in an area still recovering from last year's disaster. the latest coming up in a live report.
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jon: fox news alert for you now. you are looking live at the shores of lake michigan just off chicago where this historic world war ii aircraft has been recovered. it has been lying on the bottom of lake michigan for the last 65 years or so. it was recently located, and it is being brought to the
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surface. this from illinois. this plane was part of a check out ride for a pilot learning to land on aircraft carriers, it was his third check out flight. they used to put the aircraft carriers on lake michigan for these practice tips. he was trying to take off and the engine sputtered and died, the plane went into the water, sank about 200 feet down and was lost until today. it is going to be put on display in the chicago area, and we should also note that a very generous donor is funding this recovery work. great news out of chicago. heather: it looks like it's been preserved pretty well there too. we will never forget ceremonies set to get underway in hawaii to mark japan's surprise attack on pearl harbor 71 years ago today. the attack killed more than 2400 americans and it launched our entry into world war ii. the navy will also honor veteran ray emory.
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he has made it his mission to identify more than 600 unknown service members remained. he says he remembers being on the deck of the u.s.s. honolulu like it was yesterday. >> when i got there i had the cover off one of the 50 caliber machine guns. the other was about halfway off and a torpedo went by, the torpedo heading for ship row. i thought at the time that this is really a good mock thing like that. i pull the cover off the rest of the way and about that time another torpedo came by and i saw the big red ball and i realized it was the japanese who were attacking pearl harbor. heather: he has helped id nine service members and has the names of one hundred more men that he believes are identifiable. because of his work more than 300 gravestones at the national cemetery in hawaii have been relabeled with the names of the diseased. jon: new information on the
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earthquake in japan we told you about earlier. minimal damage and minor injuries reported now. the 7.3 magnitude quake striking off the northeastern coast triggering a small tsunami in the same area affected by last year's earthquake disaster. residents are breathing a sigh of relief now as the tsunami warning has been lifted. our david piper is live from bangkok, thailand. >> reporter: this has been a terrifying day for japan bringing back so many memories of that deadly quake and tsunami back in 2011 which took so many lives. and this was a powerful quake. i contacted a number of people in tokyo today and they said buildings shook wildly when the quake struck. the quake's epicenter was about 150 miles under the sea off eastern japan's miyagi prefecture. this is the same area of the massive quake and tsunami there 2011. people were told to evacuate the shore over concerns the tsunami could appear at any time. a small tsunami about three foot
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high hit the shore but didn't cause any damage. the tsunami warning was later lifted. nobody is thought to have died during the quake but several people have been injured. the japanese people have been very jittery seupbls the 2011 quake and tsunami which took more than 15,000 people and 3,200 are still missing. it also triggered a meltdown of fuel hrodz causing radiation leaks and mass evacuations. many of the communities that were hit hard by the tsunami back then still have not recovered yet with many people moving away or living in temporary accommodation. they have been trying to create an improved early warning system to be able to warn people of a quake. this time the state tv broadcast broke into regular programming and issued an earthquake alert just before it struck. the presenter warned people to flee to the hills immediately. and the mobile phone network also sent out warnings via messages, ten seconds before the
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quake struck. that system could be extremely helpful to the people in cars at the time and couldn't hear warnings. there has been several aftershock in the last few hours but it seems the danger has passed, jon now for japan. back to you. jon: david piper reporting live for us from bangkok. keep an eye on that for us, david, thanks. heather: coming up a tea party favorite says goodbye to the senate. so who can fill jim demint's shoes? we debate it fair & balanced. plus, no let up to the protests in egypt, the president under siege there as angry crowds call for him to leave. could president morsi face the same fate as president hosni mubarak? we'll have the analysis straight ahead.
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heather: right now in cairo
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another day of mass demonstrations and unrest. tens of thousands of egyptians marching on the presidential palace, a compound that looks more like an armed camp these days. take a look at those pictures. these folks furious with president mohammed morsi with assuming dictatorial powers and ramming through a constitution that many fear will turn egypt into an islamic state. david shanker is the director of the program on arab politics at the washington institute for mere east policy and the former middle east adviser to secretary of defense donald rumsfeld. thank you so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. heather: you were there just prior to morsi's power grab. what was the mood then and did you see this coming? >> i think the brotherhood was very confident and morsi took the opportunity of course after the hamas negotiations of doing this. and i think he thought that he had it in the bag. the people were -- the liberals, the so-called liberals i think were upset, but there was no sign that they were going to
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actually unify and this really pushed it over the edge. heather: so they have banded together. what about the role of the military, in terms of morsi? the military backed the previous president hosni mubarak. on thursday they intervened for the first time in these latest clashes. what is their role with morsi. >> i think they've cut a deal with mors, i. he's going to exercise authority over the military but by and large let them have their role in the economy, the independence in determining their budget, et cetera for the time being. what they will not do at the end of the day is really open fire on the crowds. we'll see how far it gets because the military i don't think will do that. heather: you mentioned the significance of the muslim brotherhood in this and how they have managed to band together and inch corporate ultraconservative islamists in one camp. this week also marked a milestone in that respect because it's the first time that we've seen, you know, supporters
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of rival camps basically fighting each other, being the muslim brotherhood, the ultraconservative islamists and against the liberals, leftists and christians on the other side. >> the liberals, this whole coalition of people that were opposed to the muslim brotherhood were just dejected and all of a sudden this was so egregious, this power grab that they actually found something that unified them. they were busy eating one another, fighting one another. finally you have found something that brought them out to the streets and unified them against the brotherhood. morsi only won 51% of the vote in egypt. the people are angry. heather: he called morsi on thursday to express concern to protestors which happened on wednesday. i believe six died at last count. what role in the united states play in this. >> at the end of the day the most important thing are the
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strategic elements. the over flights, the counterterrorism cooperation and the continuing peace treaty with israel. we have second very important concerns as well. human rights, women's rights, religious freedom for the coptics who are living there. all of those are in question with the morsi power grab. we have to be hammering the muslim brotherhood about these important factors, that just because you control the country doesn't mean you're entitled to be a dictator. you're elected but you don't have this type of mandate. heather: thank you so much for your insight. we appreciate it. we'll keep our eyes on egypt. jon. jon: also nearby the bloody civil war in syria intensifies as the fighting moves closer to syria's capital damascus. the latest on the war there coming up. and growing speculation over who will replace outgoing south carolina republican senator jim demint. coming up, more on the potential candidates and how the replacement will be chosen. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol
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jon: right now, in a new york city courtroom ophadel williams, the gentleman on the screen is learning what the jury thinks about his responsibility or culpability in one of the most horrific traffic cases this city has seen in recent times. it was march 12, 2011, when the bus williams was driving
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tipped over an on expressway in new york state in the bronx specifically. it hit the signpost you see there, cut the top of the bus and killed 15 people. all of them were returning from a casino trip to connecticut. he says that he was cut off by a tractor-trailer rig. prosecutors charged him with being so recklessly sleep deprived that it was as if he was drunk. he faces 15 counts of manslaughter among other charges. the jury's have is being read right now but in the situation it is always confusing whether or not these are guilty or not guilty verdicts. we're going to keep an eye on it. when we find out precisely what happens we will bring you the verdicts but he faces 15 years in prison 1/4 million dollars fine if he is convicted on all 15 manslaughter counts of the those charges being read in court right now. heather: right now the brutal civil war raging in
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syria, now you know inching closer to the capital of damascus. new video shows plumes of smoke rising over the skyline. rebel fighters are turning their attention to damascus airport as they try to choke off supplies for the assad regime. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is following all of this from the pentagon. good morning. >> reporter: good morning heather. the pent gone continues actively plan for contingencies for syria, more tough words from the president obama's national security team. >> christians, jews, men, women, every syrian must be included in this process for a new and better future and a future of this kind can not possibly include assad. >> reporter: the administration has been reluctant to get involved militarily in syria for the past 20 months of fighting but recognizes it will
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likely get drawn in to fill the vacuum when assad goes which is seen as inevitability at this point. pentagon planners recognize they can't sit on the sidelines. there is increasing evidence some of the shoulder-fired missiles known as manpads which the cia were trying to track and contain in libya, may have migrated to syria, bringing down a syrian fighter jet and helicopter last week. then there are reports of chemical weapons, sarin gas being loaded into canisters for possible use. the u.s. set up a task force at a base north of ammon, jordan with 150 u.s. special forces working on a plan to secure assad's chemical weapons. >> the whole world is watching, the whole world is watching very closely and the president of the united states has made very clear there will be consequences, there will be consequences if the assad regime makes a
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terrible mistake by using these chemical weapons on their own people. >> reporter: earlier this year the pentagon estimated it would take 75,000 ground troops to secure the tons of chemical weapons in assad's possession. that is it more than the number of u.s. troops in afghanistan right now. in the meantime, the administration's public statements appear designed to at least deter the assad regime from using them. next week in an international conference of the friends syria meets in morocco to decide what to do. heather? heather: the question, what will those consequences be. thanks very much, jennifer griffin live from the pentagon. jon? jon: right now there is lots of speculation, heather, over who will fill senator jim demint's senate seat. the republican tea party leader making a surprise announcement yesterday that he is leave being the senate at the end of the year to head up the heritage foundation. it is up to south carolina governor nikki haley to appoint his successor until
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a special election is held in 2014. we're hearing congressman tim scott is at the top of the list. so what kind of impact could this have on the tea party and who are the other contenders? what about the effect of all of this on the situation in the senate? let's get a fair and balanced debate underway. can crowley, radio show host and fox news contributor. julie roginsky former advisor to new jersey senator frank lautenberg of and fox news contributor. jon:. monica are you disappointed with the resignation. >> i think we'll all miss senator demint actually being in the institution but the reality for every republican and every conservative in the senate now that the senate under harry reid has become a paralyzed nightmare. there is not a lot of influence you can really wield there. there is not a lot of things you can get done the composition of the senate may very well change after the 2014 but for the
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time-being it has to be frustrating for somebody like demint. he can have lot more interesting and effective influence on the outside with heritage. jon: what about tim scott taking his place? he is probably the favorite at this point. a black conservative in the senate. >> right. jon: what would that do oar four balance of power? >> i don't think it is making a difference, in the sense a conservative replacing another conserve. part of the reason senate is paralyzed is the senator demint is the king of filibuster. >> wait a minute. democrats have a big majority. they have a majority period but they had huge filibuster-proof majority first two years. >> they had a filibuster-proof majority, 27 days the senate was in significance. rest of the time they didn't have 60 votes you need to get rid of the filibuster. jim demint is more dangerous with the republican party out of the senate than in the senate. jim demint has never been
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one to shy away from throwing bombs. recently called for john boehner's overthrow by other conservatives in the house. more unink hadded jim demint without having to worry about being a senator is incredibly paralyzing for the republican party. jon: he says he fields he can wield more influence as head of the heritage foundation as he can as a united states senator. here's what he told our bret baier. >> i think i'm in a more powerful position than a single united states senator. i wouldn't feel good about leaving if we didn't have so many new bright young conservatives now in the senate but it's time that conservatives take control of our message and let americans know what we can do to make their lives better. republicans hadn't done that good of a job as a party doing that. jon: he spoke about conservatives, monica, not necessarily republicans. he seemed to be aiming his ire at both parties but republican as well. >> as well he should because the republican establishment for many decades, but now
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even more recently on the fiscal cliff, they seem to be willing to go down that road of big government, big spending, no spending restraints, higher taxes. that is not what the republican party has ever been about. now enough republicans have gone down that road where we're in this mess now but what demint is saying look as conservatives we have to start talking about and fighting for first principles. that is the constitution, limited government, fiscal responsibility economic freedom. republican establishment is not clearly making that case. it is now up to conservatives to do that. demint will be leading charge. jon: he is the hero of the tea party which did so much damage to liberals in the 2010 election. >> done so much damage to themselves. harry reid would all agree would not be in the senate if not for the tea party nominating sharron angle, not not a strong candidate. delaware, todd aiken in missouri. tea party done a lot of damage to republican party. you would probably have
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senate republican leader mitch mcconnell if not for the tea party. to monica's point, jim demint will create problems from somebody like john boehner. >> as he should. >> wants to desperately cut a deal but probably won't be able to because his own caucus won't go along with it. >> if the republican party stuck to their core principles of limited government and fiscal restraint there would be no need for a tea party. thanks to jim demint, you named a couple of candidates that were weak, thanks to demint and strong tea party folks we have mike lee, jeff flake, marco rubio, we have rand paul, pat toomey. they would not have gotten to the senate without jim demint. he will be a huge force bringing country back. jon: we'll hear a lot from him in the days ahead. monica, yulely, thank you both. >> thank you. heather: coming up two brothers face a judge accused of plotting a terror attack on u.s. soil. a live report coming up. nasa struggling to find its footing after retiring the shuttle program. we'll take a look at a new
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study suggesting that underfunding could threaten america's future in space.
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>> all three engines up and burning. two, one, zero and lift-off, the finalist off of atlantis on the shoulders of the space shuttle. america will continue the dream. jon: that was the final space shuttle launch july 8th, 2011 signaling the end of an era for nasa. federal funding for the space agency has fallen flat. it has come under constant threats of more cuts in recent years. a new study suggests that underfunding and lack of focus could lead to nasa's demise. despite the mars rover curiosity and president's calls for manned missions to mars, nasa appears to be losing its edge in space exploration? we have tom jones, four
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times former shuttle as snow naught for nasa and planetary scientist. what do you think of nasa's problems? at this point there are no plans to return humans to space until 2020, is that right, tom? >> americans are renting russian rockets to get to the space station. five years until we get american rockets from florida to go to the space station and deep space returning to the moon we were last it there 40 years ago, that will be 2020 or beyond. jon: i remember growing up as a kid astronauts were my heroes. you could order a astronaut costume out of the montgomery ward catalog. i probably did, i don't know. so many kids were inspired to go after careers in engineering and aerospace and so forth by the space program. is that still the case today? >> i think it is still true. i was talking at a school this week. the kids were mess herized by the thoughts they might be the first martian explorers
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in 25 years or so. to keep nasa and country forging ahead to do cutting exploration into space. that is what inspires people to go into heart fields like science and genering. they accomplish things in space but help defend our country and have innovations that keep our economy vibrant. >> it is a lot easier as a kid to look at some of the pictures we're watching now, some of the lunar explorers. the last lunar mission was taking place 40 years ago this week. it was a lot easier to get excited when you see, there's gene cernan bouncing around in moondust. when you have, i don't know, when you have just the robot up there on mars, yeah it is doing great work but not exactly a human connection. is that still inspiring kids today? >> i think there is a lack of near-term excitement. what's nasa doing now? what is it going to do the next five years for a college graduate looking for a job? my daughter is a aerospace
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engineering grad student looking to work in the space program but there is question whether there will be those opportunities. the robot is great but we need the human connection so we experience that ourselves with our machines we send out as scouts in advance. nasa needs a purpose. the panel recommended that nasa do internal organization and get more support from the congress and president about long term strategic goals and resources from the federal budget that will accomplish those in the near term. right now we have this long dry spell that is stretching ahead of us. jon: iu've also been a advocate privatizing parts of the space program and that is one big one underway. couple former nasa executives launching what they call a golden spike, two person private trip to the moon for $1.5 billion. do you think it is possible? >> technically possible, yes. it is a complicated scheme involving four rocket launches to get two or three people to the moon.
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and you know, it will depend on the first person willing to put up front money to develop the system. the customers they predict will be flowing in. that is the real challenge for the golden spike company to come up with the capital to develop the lunar lander, lunar surface space suits and put the whole package together so they have credibility to attract more customers. great idea. it might become fact but i think chinese might be on the moon before they are. jon: all right. tom jones, always good to talk to you. thank you. >> you're welcome. jon: this month marks a special anniversary, the last time a man walked on the moon. 40 years ago u.s. astronaut gene cernan had that author. neil cavuto anchors a fox special. here is a little bit of that. >> 56 hours into the flight the crew finished a broadcast showing how comfortably they lived and worked in weightlessness. >> we're about ready to close out our inspection of aquarius and get back to a
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pleasant evening in odyssey. >> nine minutes later, oxygen tank two blew up causing oxygen tank one to fail. >> houston, we have a problem. >> houston we have a problem, words forever linked to commander jim loveville. >> when the explosion occurred i thought to myself, why me? why didn't i go on apollo 12 or wait to apollo 14. for a little while i couldn't believe what was happening and then all of a sudden i said, well it is me and it is now. so what's next? jon: jim lovell, one of my all-time heroes. you can catch the entire documentary, fox news reporting, fly me to the moon, airing this sunday 9:00 p.m. eastern time right here on fox news channel. heather: i will definitely tune in for that. that is a good one. you heard of pacemakers for the heart but how about one for the brain? a promises new break through offering hope to alzheimer's patients. plus how do you like
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your cup of joe? these elephants help make one of the world's most exotic coffees. 50 bucks a serving. the coffee beans, that's a whole different story. stay tuned. ligations, but oblig. ligations, but oblig. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is sleep. introducing the ishares core, building blocks for the heart of your portfolio. find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.
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jon: breaking news now, "happening now." in my many years in this business i never learned to second-guess or try to guess what a jury will do. here is another example. ophadell williams, the bus driver accused of 15 counts of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, for the deaths of 15 people on his tour bus has been found not guilty on all of those charges. he was charged, or was convicted i should say of aggravated unlicensed
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operation of a motor vehicle. he didn't have a license to be a bus driver. he was sentenced to 30 days, which he also heart served and a $500 fine. on the rest of the charges of this terrible bus crash that killed 15 tourists, who adjust left a connecticut casino. he has been exonerated on those charges. heather: meantime two terror suspects are back in their cells following a pretrial hearing, this one in florida. the brothers pleading not guilty this morning to charges that they provided money and housing for terrorists plotting an attack on u.s. soil. phil keating is live for us outside the courthouse in fort lauderdale, florida, with the latest, phil? >> reporter: good morning. the qazi brothers are back in jail voluntarily after their very brief arraignment behind me upstairs in u.s. district court of the both of them walked in shackled at the wrists as well as the ankles, and both affirmed to
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the with a yes to the judge they spoke english and entered on behalf of their attorneys that not guilty plea. the older brother, sheheryar qazi, and 20-year-old raees qazi, they smiled occasionally reading news accounts of their case, charged with aiding terrorists and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction on u.s. soil. the attorney's waived detention hearing with the younger brother back next for his and older brother reserving his until a later date so he stays in jail. divulging the government's case it is partly based on electronic surveillance and e-mails. u.s. marshals arrested brothers at their fourth lauderdale apartment complex where they lived with an older brother. all emigrated here from pakistan but the two suspects became naturalized u.s. citizens the indictment claim the qazies spent july
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2011 all the way until last week planning to kill americans. >> look the pattern is very clear. south florida has seen before arrests, successful arrests and indictments of jihadi activities, meaning activities by militants who are convinced they are serving a cause, idealogical cause and an anti-american one. >> reporter: now this federal grand jury indictment, three pages long, super thin on details. for example, it doesn't specify where these two brothers allegedly were going to set off a bomb nor whether they even obtained the he can explosives necessary to do so. the older brother told local reporters that the two brothers were sending money back to pakistan to their parents and thinks all of this is a just a big misunderstanding. back to you. heather: phil keating reporting live for us from florida, thank you, phil. jon: all right. this may be the most unusual story of the day. what coffee lovers will do for that perfect cup of joe.
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it is called black ivory coffee out of thailand. world's most unusual because the beans pass through an elephant before they are ground. we will leave it to you to figure out what that means the guy behind this unique java says the elephant physicianology and diet combine for a unique earth think flavor. you may have to take his word for it. the price of this rare coffee? 50 bucks a pound. heather: on that note we'll be right back. with my bankamerd cash rewards credit card, i love 'em even more. i earn 1% cash back everywhere, evertime. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that's 1% back on... [ toy robot sounds ] 2% on pumpn pie. and apple. 3% back on 4 trips to the airport. it's as easy as.. -[ man ] 1... -[ woman ] 2... [ woman ] 3. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you.
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i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, it could save you thousands in out-of-pocket costs.
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jon: world powers closing ranks on syria as the brutal fighting rages on. will the increasingly isolated regime of bashar assad use its massive arsenal of chemical weapons? what can we do to stop them if they do? major general bob scales helps us understand what we are up against. an amazing new treatment for alzheimer's patients. can it improve the lives of millions who are suffering from that terrible disease? plus, ben stein joins us to
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talk about the brand new unemployment numbers just out. what they mean as we head toward the new year. >> al-qaeda on the rebounded, building a new base for terrorist operations. well kohl to "happening now," i'm heather childers in for jenna lee -- jon: and i'm jon scott. al-qaeda's gaining a fresh foothold in libya, and the consequences could be deadly. heather: al-qaeda moving in to fill the political vacuum, hooking up with militants involved in the deadly terrorist attack in benghazi. catherine herridge is life in washington with the latest. >> reporter: al-qaeda has strengthened their bases in libya and the in the broader region of north africa to the extent that the administration is investigating whether it has the authority to target the drone strategy in the tribal areas of pakistan as well as
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yemen. after the terrorist attack in benghazi on the consulate, analysts say al-qaeda has sought to capitalize to use its so-called victory to raise money and also recruit. there is evidence that the growth of the al-qaeda affiliate in libya is part of a broader campaign by senior leadership in pakistan to establish a global presence through its affiliates and that the decision to send al-qaeda operatives to libya was made and executed as long ago as 2011. now analysts describe an emerging arc of instability. earlier the week the head of defense operations in africa summed up al-qaeda's reach. >> whether it's adjusting al-shabaab and al-qaeda affiliate in east africa, principal my somalia, a growing extremist network in libya across the region into northern mali and then, troubling, a
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reemergence in nigeria, all signal the importance of countering violent extremist os to us in africa. >> reporter: analysts tell fox the reason libya has emerged as such an attractive base for these al-qaeda-affiliated or at least sympathetic groups after the benghazi attack is because of this power vacuum, also just the plethora of weapons that remain in that region, heather. heather: catherine herridge live from washington for us, thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. heather: new developments on secretary of state hillary clinton's latest effort to end the fighting in syria. her meeting with russia's foreign minister came as rebels intensified the fighting around the capital of damascus. now, speaking for the first time about the meeting, secretary clinton laid out her vision of a syria without president assad. >> the united states stands with the syrian people in insisting that any transition process result in a unifyied, democratic
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syria in which all citizens are represented; sunni, alawite, christians, kurds, jews, men, women, every syrian must be included in this process for a new and better future. and a future of this kind cannot possibly include assad. heather: secretary clinton also called the meeting a beginning and warning that there's still a lot of hard work ahead. jon? jon: the world is waiting for assad's next move. if intelligence reports are correct, he already has ordered his military to prepare chemical weapons. those, we can only presume, would be used against his own people. recent rebel victories seem to give him more incentive to use such weapons, so what can we expect if he does? how do we react, and is it too late to prevent it? let's bring in fox news military
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analyst and retired army major general bob scales. general, we are told that these sarin delivery systems have been prepared. apparently, you know more about this than i do, but apparently sarin is a powder, you mix it with alcohol, then it becomes live and deadly, but it's only good for about two months. >> yeah, that's right, jon. that's why it's kept in what's called binary form. the chemical and alcohol mixed together, you have a very, very deadly gas. sarin is, essentially, nerve gas, and it is supplied by the soviet union, it's intended to be delivered principally by soviet-style scud rockets. and, essentially, when you fire explode over the target, they set up a cloud, if you will, of deadly gas. and in the middle east iraq has used it twice, once against their own people and once against the iranians, and so
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there's a precedent, if you will, jon, for the use of deadly nerve agent in the middle east. the downside for the syrians, of course, is that the worst place to use nerve agent, if that's the proper term, is in the middle east because it dissipates easily, very difficult in desert terrain for it to last very long, but it's a deadly and potent weapon. and i know the administration is concerned about in their last moments the syrians using this thing as sort of a revenge weapon. jon: yeah. well, sometimes weapons systems, as you know, are constructed for deterrence. is it possible he's just trying to scare some people here, or does he really spend to use these things? >> yeah, i absolutely agree with that. i think he had a bad moment when it looked like the gates were closing on damascus, and he may have made a knee jerk order to mix the chemicals. there is nothing, nothing in assad's benefit for the use of these weapons. the chinese and the russians
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will turn away from him, he'll become a global pariah, and the ability of him to get his family and his intimates out of the country goes down precipitously if the rest of the world watches syrians die by nerve gas from the hand of their own leader, jon. jon: but the russians and the chinese have been very much in his corner to this point. >> yeah. but this is a game changer. i think secretary clinton's discussion with the russians just yesterday, i think, reinforces that. and, oh, by the way, the russians and the chinese at the end of the day want to be on the right side of history. the last thing they want to have on the record is the fact that they supported a brutal dictator who not only killed 47,000 of his own people with rockets, bombs and bullets, but he also gassed them with nerve gas. that's not a good place for even russia and china to be at the end of the day, jon. jon: want to turn your attention to pearl harbor day, general. it is, it is upon us again. i just wanted to get your thoughts on this day. >> you know, in a way we can
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look at pearl harbor as a sort of cautionary tale, jon. over the last 70 or 80 years, this nation has almost always been surprised by our enemies, whether it's nerve, pearl harbor and the other various -- korea, all the various wars we've gone to. and as a nation what's important here is to prevent wars by being prepared for wars. and not to try to pick any particular region of the world to anticipate when, where, how and why a conflict will be started. we're not very good at that as a nation, jon. jon: let's hope we can learn. general bob scales, good to have you on. >> thank you, jon. heather: we are getting a new snapshot of the health of the economy right now. according to the labor department, unemployment fell to 7.7% in november after adding 146,000 jobs last month. but the dip in the jobless rate due mostly to the fact that more
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americans, well, they simply stopped looking for work. fox business network's peter barnes is live for us at the white house with the latest on this. peter? >> reporter: that's right, heather. that 7.7% for november was the lowest level since december 2008 and the lowest level of president obama's presidency, and that was down from 7.9% in october. non-farm payrolls up 146,000 in november. both of these numbers were somewhat of a surprise here, somewhat above expectations because economistses had been expecting -- economistses had been expecting that because of hurricane sandy, job creation might have been a little slower last month, the unemployment rate might have stayed a little bit higher. it turns out that sandy did have an impact, but not on the headline numbers. >> if you look deeper in the report, you do see that over a million workers who normally work full time were reduced to part-time hours during the reference week because of bad weather, and over 300,000
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additional workers weren't able to work at all because of bad weather. >> reporter: and because of the way the labor department calculates or figures out and decides -- defines who is working part time, full time or working at all and when, sandy's impact did not show up in the overall numbers. but one thing did. as you mentioned, 350,000 people left the work force, about the same number stayed in, and that is what put downward pressure on the unemployment rate taking it down to 7.7. heather? heather: peter barnes reporting live from the white house, thank you. so what can the federal government do to kick start the economy and get more americans back to work in the new year? that's what we need. well, economists and former speech writer to former prime ministers nixon and ford -- presidents nixon and ford, ben stein joins us just ahead. jon: lawmakers in michigan are facing a union backlash over the
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right to work. heather: and a fight on a subway platform below times square in new york city ending in death. a photographer catching a haunting image and a lot of flak as well. our news watch panel weighs in on the ethics of photo journalism. jon: also what could be an advance in the fight against alzheimer's. >> our understanding of how memory works fits well with how this surgery might work. five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ woman ] learn from my story. hi, i'm ensure clear... clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've gotine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach.
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heather: welcome back. bad weather may have slowed down north korea's preparations to launch a long-range rocket, but even though snow is now covering the launch pad, there are reports that north korea could still test fire that rocket as soon as monday. and now the u.s. is moving warships closer to that region to monitor the launch. the north says it's trying to put a satellite into orbit, but the u.s. says it is a cover for testing ballistic missile
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technology. jon: right now angry protests erupting in michigan as state lawmakers pass a right-to-work law last night. it's a state dominated by organized labor. union members are blasting the new measure saying it will weaken unions. right to work bans unions from forcing workers to pay union dues. mike tobin has more from our chicago bureau. what happened there, mike? >> reporter: well, jon, a spokesman for the democratic caw can cuts in michigan just told me they cannot stop from passage the legislation that governor rick schneider calls freedom to work because the republicans simply have the numbers. so the demonstrations will continue at the capitol. as you mentioned, the demonstrations have already gotten ugly, there have been several arrests, pepper spray has been used, additional state troopers have been deployed today. and unlike these drawn-out labor standoffs we've seen in recent years, governor rick schneider has been able to slam this legislation through, and despite
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all of the visuals, he insists that he's not picking a fight. >> no, it's not picking a fight. i view this as solving an issue for michigan workers. we have hard working people in michigan, and this is giving workers choice. >> reporter: now, a point republicans put up front is that this is not targeting collective bargaining, they insist that they are not breaking the unions. all this does is make union dues, union membership optional with the exception of police and firefighters. jon? jon: well, is this fight over? i mean, are democrats in michigan throwing in the towel? >> reporter: no, no, not by a long shot. bob mccann says to say that this will face legal challenges is an understatement. to start with, they will challenge the manner in which this legislation was pushed through so rapidly in the lame duck session, the fact that demonstrators were kept out of the chambers, the fact that police were called in. democrats claim republicans have pulled every trick in the book. >> these guys have lied to us every step of the way, and they're acting like cowards by pushing this through in the dark
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of night in lame duck. >> he says this is leadership. >> bologna. >> reporter: and democrats will also go after the language in the bill. the president had a preplanned appearance scheduled for michigan on monday. jon: mike tobin lye -- live in chicago, thanks. heather: he is accused of leaking documents to the wikileaks web site, but army lawyers for private bradley manning continue their push to have the case dismissed. why manning says he was mistreated during his confinement in the military brig. plus, a medical breakthrough in the fight against alzheimer's disease. the new treatment that could help slow down the disease in patients.
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jon: right now we are following new developments in the wikileaks case. new testimony from one of the people who put army private first class bradley manning in confinement pending his trial. manning's accused of leaking thousands of classified documents to the wikileaks web site. his attorneys say his nine months behind bars were so punishing, his case should be dismissed. harris faulkner tracking this story fors from the breaking news desk. >> reporter: people may be wondering what happened. well, for nine months private manning was in maximum custody at the base in cant coe -- quantico, virginia, and that testimony is underway right now with interesting details just coming out of the courtroom. on the stand right now at fort meade in maryland, just one person so far we've seen today, denise barnes, the former marine corps brig commander who was in charge of manning for the last few months of his confinement. she's the commander who ordered that private manning's underwear
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be removed, and that's really what got this case kind of back in the public eye. barnes just told the military courtroom that she never intended it to be punishment. according to the ex-commander, manning said he wanted to kill himself and said he could use the elastic band on his underwear to do that, so barnes had that underwear' removed during his commandment. his attorneys say that was illegal, specifically unlawful pretrial punishment, and they want his entire case thrown out. just a reminder, as jon said, manning is charged with sending classified information to the so-called anti-secrecy web site wikileaks. it is nine days of pretrial hearing, and this is the second brig commander we've heard from so far. jon? jon: and he says his time in jail, nine months, was punishment enough? >> reporter: well, i don't know if it would be the underwear wearing in front of the other officers, having that
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removed if we're talking about 'em embarrassment, but his attorneys say that was abusive and that's actually what he suffered, abuse. jon: okay. heather -- >> reporter: i'm glad to be heather. jon: harris faulkner -- >> reporter: whatever. heather: and i would be glad to be harris. well, a groundbreaking medical procedure, a pacemaker for your brain. doctors at johns hopkins university are the first to perform the surgery. they have performed one surgery so far. the goal is to stimulate the brain much like pacemakers do for the heart. >> what's exciting is our understanding of how memory works fits well with how this surgery might work. what we're hoping to see is improved memory and that people don't decline as fast as they would without the treatment. heather: our guest, dr. richard fur shine, he is the director of ther if shine center for comprehensive medicine. thank
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us. >> thank you. heather: so how hopeful should alzheimer's patients be looking at this procedure? >> well, i think this is a breakthrough and, you know, what we're seeing right now, one case at johns hopkins where this implantable pacemaker was put in, 70,000 people have had a similar type of pacemaker put in for parkinson's, and there are already six patients who have had this treatment in canada. so this is a very, very positive step in the right direction, and it works by stimulating those areas of the brain where memories take place. and we have a very good understanding where those areas are. heather: so it stimulates a different area of the brain than the parkinson's patients. >> yeah. basically, the hippocampus is responsible for retrieving and creating a lot of memories, so what these doctors are doing -- and it's very innovative -- is they're basically drilling two hoyles in the brain -- holes in the brain, placing wires where these particular memories are created and putting in a very
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small impulse of electricity, about 150 little pulses per second, and that allows the brain to start to create different types of memories, increases what we believe is glue cose production -- glucose production, very important for memory retrieval because without those sugars, it's difficult for the mind to create memories. heather: it is such a devastating disease, it affects 27 million, i believe we said, across the world. and it's devastating to the families as well. what results are they seeing? i know that in canada they've done this for six patients, as you mentioned. what results have they seen? >> so far they are seeing improvement in actual memory, the ability for alzheimer patients to perform recall exercises. you know, the early stages of dementia and alzheimer's are sometimes very subtle and very difficult for people to understand. but it can be something as simple as, you know, feeling a slight memory loss, not being able to retrieve names,
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difficulty in social situations. but as that progresses, it becomes much more severe. what they're seeing in these early cases is two things. one on a primary level they're able to improve recall, and on the second level they're seeing increasing glucose metabolism, that means the brain is functioning. heather: so really the early onset of alzheimer's, not really for people in later stages? >> correct. basically, this is a study. they're going to take 40 people, 20 who are going to get the treatment early on, another 20 who are going to get it later on. people who will be accepted are only those at the earliest stages of alzheimer's because as time goes on, the types of problems that occur, the tangles that occur in the brain, the plaques that form are not reversible. so the feeling is here if we can get people early, we can reduce the instance of alzheimer's, but really the progression, which is a critical phase. heather: and how long until we know that it works? >> well, they're going to
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perform this study for about a year, and hopefully after that time when the research becomes available, we'll know that this works. you know, right now there really is nothing that works effectively. heather: right. >> for my patients who are concerned about alzheimer's, who have a family history -- and and, remember, it's not generally genetic. there are some genetic predispositions that are important for alzheimer's, but for those individuals concerned, there have been studies that have shown cognitive training means doing things active with your mind, studying or playing chess, learning a new language, being social and interactive has an important effect, exercise and a good diet has also shown to be helpful. heather: thank you so much. hopefully, that provided hope to some people today. >> absolutely. heather: thank you. jon? jon: new monthly job numbers out, and the unemployment rate is dropping. but some of the other numbers show just how tough it is to find work still. ben stein is here to break it all down for us and explain that
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drop in the jobless numbers. and no end in sight to that growing crisis in egypt. round-the-clock protests as a major opposition group responds to president morsi's call for talks to end the violence. a live report from cairo next. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, now is a good time to think about your options. are you looking for a plan that really meets your needs and your budget? as you probably know, medicare only covers about 80%
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heather: welcome back. we are getting word on more violence in the streets of cairo. reuters now reporting that protesters are breaking through
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barricades surrounding the presidential palace there. anti-morsi demonstrations are going on around the clock, and you're looking live at the protest in tahrir square as egypt's main opposition group rejects president morsi's call for negotiations to end the crisis. david lee miller is live for us in jerusalem with the latest. david lee? >> reporter: heather, it's one day now since egyptian president mohamed morsi addressed his nation, and it appears egypt is more divided than ever. thousands have taken to the streets, as you mentioned, specificically in two places, tahrir square and outside the presidential palace. there are reports that they have broken through barricades at the palace, some of the demonstrators jumping on top of tanks, waving flags. by one estimate there are some 10,000 demonstrators outside the palace alone. they are calling on the egyptian president to relinquish a decree giving himself broad powers, also to postpone a referendum on
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a new constitution that was written by an islamist-led assembly. the leader of the opposition says after the bloodshed earlier this week, morsi's regime simply lost the legitimacy to rule, and this was also day of funerals for some of those who died in the recent clashes. three members of the muslim brotherhood, and that's the group that morsi brought to power, were buried, the group that he's affiliated with. morsi supporters say the president is democratically elected, and they accuse the opposition of being traitors who want to destabilize the country. and this is the very same thing that demonstrators chanted, ironically enough, when the people brought down hosni mubarak. and the unrest we're witnessing today is not just limited to cairo. there have been demonstrations elsewhere in the country. today in alexandria, egypt's second largest city, thousands there of anti-morsi protesters also took to the streets. and tomorrow, again heather, is
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the day that president morsi has designated for a day of dialogue with the opposition, but judging by what we're seeing now taking place in the streets of cairo and elsewhere, it looks like if there is going to be any conversation with the egyptian president, it's going to be very one-sided. heather? heather: david lee miller reporting live from jerusalem. thank you, david lee. ♪ jon: on the job hunt now. as we mentioned earlier, we have some new jobs numbers for november. the unemployment rate falling to 7.7%. the u.s. economy adding 146,000 jobs despite the fact that superstorm sandy caused $60 billion worth of damage in this country. but after all that devastation, construction jobs are seeing a big bump in communities that sandy hit hard. rick leventhal is live on staten island, new york, a little bit of a silver lining here, rick. >> reporter: yeah. of course a lot of businesses
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suffered as a result of hurricane sandy, especially restaurants and retail hit by that storm surge. but as you mentioned, some businesses are seeing a boom, especially in the home improvement area. construction jobs, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, roofers, drywall finishers, they're all working very, very hard, getting a lot of new business. we spoke to a couple, dana that and anthony devigne know, who run their own electrical contracting business, here's what they told us. >> people want their work done right away, and we're working as hard as we can to get that done for them. >> and i'm a firm believer in taking the work while it's there, so we really don't pass up too much. if we have to work saturdays and sundays, we will. >> reporter: no vacations in the near future? >> maybe after. after, when it settles a little bit. we'll be good. >> reporter: and that could take a couple of years according to anthony and another benefit to this storm would be retail businesses like home depot here which has seen a surge in business here. people coming in for their
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lumber and electrical panels and sheet rock and insulation, tools and supplies. and the stores in this region in long island, in new york city and in new jersey are hiring 500 new workers because of the increase in business. listen. >> this has been very devastating to the areas around us with the amount of homes that were impacted from it that there's a lot of restoration work that has to be done immediately, so so they're not waiting for the spring. they're doing it now. >> reporter: home depot says these are temporary jobs, 120-day contracts, but they could lead to full-time positions, and they're hoping that they do. jon? jon: rick leventhal reporting live for us, thanks. heather: well, an argument on a new york city subway platform suddenly turns deadly. a photographer forced to make a split second decision as a train comes barreling into the station. our news watch panel straight ahead. jon: also -- [ female announcer ] research suggests cell health
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jon: a controversial photo on the front page of the new york post causing an uproar this week, and first a warning. some of the images we're about to show you in this segment are disturbing. a front page photo in the new york post this week captured the attention and, in many cases, the revulsion of people around the world. it shows a man clinging to the last moments of his life before he was killed by a new york city subway train. he had been pushed from the platform onto the tracks. the question everyone's asking, when do you put the camera down to try to help a fellow human being? let's go to our news watch panel. judith miller is a pulitzer brize-winning investigative reporter, kirsten powers with the daily beast. on the phone with us, stanley foreman, the winner of three prizes for photojournalism, one of them this sering shot of a 9-year-old woman and her
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goddaughter. they were trying to escape a fire, made it out on on the fire escape and the platform collapsed. stanley snapped this photo just before the woman died, the little girl survived. stanley, let's start with you. you have been this that situation -- in that situation. every situation is slightly different, and it's my understanding you were not even in a position to be able to try to help these people because you were cordoned off by police, correct? >> well, that's not really -- i was not in a position. i wasn't cordoned off, but -- [inaudible] you have to remember that was a routine rescue. when i talked to the firefighter afterward, he said two more seconds he would have had them. he had climbed down from the roof, climbed onto the fire escape, explained to the girl and the god child that there would be a ladder coming up, and he'd hand the baby to the firefighter coming up from the ground, and he would climb up, and he'd help --
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[inaudible] was the woman. no, diana bryan was the woman. all of a sudden it just went sour. i mean, i was taking picture of a routine ladder rescuethen it . and in the end, before my last frame i said to myself, i don't want to see them hit, and i turned around. as it worked out, i would have rather -- i wouldn't have seen them anyways because it was a fenced-in area where they fell. jon: yeah. judy, the photographer in this new york city case has said he was trying to warn the motor man on the train, trying to get him to stop the train by firing off his flash and that he wouldn't have been able to help this poor match anyway -- man anyway. >> right. he took 49 pictures, and the first thing, jon, i think we have to say is that none of us was there. none of us knows how much time he had or what he could have
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done. he had to make that decision. and i feel very, very sorry for this photographer, because he's going to have to live with what he called the image of death that he saw for the rest of his life. so i don't think we're in a position to judge. but just in terms of human instinct, you have to say before you are a photojournalist, you are a human being, and you must do whatever you can to help. but perhaps -- and i think this was the case -- he didn't have time and couldn't have done more. jon: this happened at the times square subway station which is packed at two in the morning, kirsten. i mean, there would have been other people on the platform, certainly. >> yeah, well, and the photographer said that. he doesn't understand why other people didn't reach to help him. i guess they were yelling, but nobody came up to try to pull him up. so, you know, this is a tough situation, and i think judy's right. we weren't there, we don't know what happened -- jon: let me just interrupt to say that the video that we're running on the screen now is some of the confrontation before the victim was pushed.
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that is the suspect in the blue t-shirt on the right who was eventually arrested after the victim's death. go ahead, kirsten. >> yeah. yeah, i think, you know, we don't know what happened. i agree with judy. in the situation before you take a picture, you should rush to help the person, but i'm not going to second guess what this person thought. if he thought that what he was doing was going to help alert the conductor, so be it, you know? i don't think that there's any way to know without having been there what the right thing to do would be. jon: one of the most iconic images really that came out of the vietnam war was the picture of a 9-year-old little girl, her name was kim. she had been just out and about when she was, well, napalmed, you know, flaming gasoline attached to her in a mistaken attack by the south vietnamese airport. this took place in vietnam in june of 1972.
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the photographer who took this shot later explained what he did. >> i say, oh, my -- you know, i cry a little bit myself. i say i don't want to die. jon: so nick helped, judy, and you're saying that's the right thing to do? >> that is the right thing to do, and he got the picture, and he was able to help. and, in fact, recently major papers looked back at that young girl running down street. she's now an elderly woman, and she survived thanks to that photographer's action. of it's much tougher when you make the decision as a photojournalist to go on filming
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and not help, and i had to cover one of those cases in 1983 when i was just a junior reporter, and it was appalling. there were two photographers who had watched a man set himself on fire in a protest and had done nothing. i think that's a case where you really have to just draw the line and say that's, that's bad behavior. jon: but, stanley, i mean, these are so often such momentary judgment calls. you have the blink of an eye to decide whether to take the photo or help out another human being. >> well, i can only say if i'm in the position, i hope and i plan to help first. and, you know, everybody has a cell phone now. this is just a bigger story because of what happened here. but if you look at images coming across the whole country, the whole world, everybody's got a cell phone. not too many people are diving in. they all want to be published. and i think that hurts, is hurting what's happening. jon: yeah. the world, much of the world knows the story of kevin carter.
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he was a south african photographer who took a pulitzer prize-winning photo i think back in 1994. he took the photo in the '93, won the pulitzer prize in '94 of a young girl in sudan badly malnourished, a vulture hovering or, you know, on the road in the background. he killed himself a couple of months after that photo, and some attributed it to the fact that he took such criticism because he didn't pick that little girl up and help her. but, you know, even dr. martin luther king, kirsten, said sometimes a photographer can do more good by broadcasting, by bringing his or her photographs to the world than by actually helping out one individual. >> yeah, i think that's definitely true. and i think it's particularly true when people are, photographers who are in war zones or in places where, you know, horrific things are happening and their job really is to transmit that to the
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averager world. -- larger world. and so that's not a minor job, and i think there's a very fine line that they walk, because, you know, could you help one person, but then, you know, the world never hears about it, or can you take the picture, and the entire world now knows that something terrible is happening? and i think that it's a very fine line that people have to walk and that the journalists do have a responsibility to capture the story. and, you know, you have to also wonder even in the situation that judy was talking about, could you stop the person from doing it? i mean, it is, it is just a moment, you know? you just have the this moment, and you don't really know, and you just go with your best instincts. so i really would hesitate to criticize photographers, because i think they're probably trying to do the best that they can. jon: there's another image that came out of south africa, a man believed to be a zulu is stabbed by a member of a mob of african nationalist supporters. eventually, that victim was stoned, stabbed and finally
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burned to death. pretty violent photo. obviously, a violet event, judy -- violent event, jude -- judy, but it was because of events like this that the world was finally motivated to act and end apartheid. >> exactly. and that's the balance, that very delicate balance that kirsten's talking about and that aye been talking about and i think anyone who is in this business knows is always there. that is, what do you do? you know, if you're in a position to help, i still believe you help. but you help first, and then you get the photo. but there's really no consensus in our profession about in the. some people ardently believe in the media that your first obligation is to get the picture that's going to make the story dramatic and important to people. so if there's no consensus within our profession, just imagine how confused people outside of the profession must
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be. jon: well, stanley, eu8 give -- i'll give you the last word with. we've all been on the street when there's a car accident or something that happens, and most people's reaction first is just to freeze. you don't know what to do. >> well, you know, i come across a lot of things. i pick up the phone, i call, i may be carrying a stretcher or something like that or going back to the ambulance. i've always tried to help, i've always tried to get my image, but as i said before, i hope that if it's between saving a life and taking the image, the life will come first. jon: yeah. well, let's hope that is the modus operandi in the journalism world. stanley, kirsten, judith, thank you all. >> thank you. >> hey, listen -- hi, you still here? >> jon: yeah, real quickly. >> 59 years old is not elderly, i'm 67 -- will [laughter] will you, please, tell her? >> absolutely.
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jon: news watch will be on tomorrow 2:30 p.m. eastern time. we coffer the coverage. it also runs again, 13 1:30 portfolio eastern. heather: that was a great segment. the labor department releasing the all-important november jobs report today. what it means for millions of meshes looking for work. -- americans looking for work. economy ben stein gives us his take up next.
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heather: well, welcome back. the november jobs report out this morning showing that the economy created 146,000 jobs in the jobless rate dipping to 7.7%. that's the lowest level in four years. ben stein is an economists and the author of "how to really ruin your financial life and portfolio."
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thank you so much for joining us. >> pleasure. heather: so let's talk about these numbers, the significance of them and also the labor participation rate and the number of people who dropped out of the work force, specifically. >> well, we have a lot of people that are leaving the labor force allegedly because they're discouraged, and i assume because they are discouraged that makes the labor force calculation such that even if you have a quite small increase in the number of jobs, you get a lowering of the unemployment rate. so mr. obama and the democrats generally benefit from that calculation. heather: so not quite as good as it seems. >> it's not quite as good as it seems, but there is a recovery. however, they did revise the number of new jobs for the previous two months, so that's not quite as much of a recovery. i think we can say it's an anemic recovery. heather: were you surprised that sandy didn't have more of an impact after causing $60 billion in damages? >> i'm not surprised at all. the typical pattern is when you
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have a natural disaster like that, whatever you lose in the way of jobs you gain back and then some in the rebuilding jobs. heather: okay. tax hikes in january, can this economy handle it based on this report? >> we're going to have taxes which will be roughly the same under bill clinton, we did fine in that, we'll do fine. what i'm worried about is the defense cuts. they're really serious. but we'll get by with a few months of higher taxes until the democrats and republicans start playing nice with each other. but the fiscal cliff, i think, is very overrated as a danger. heather: does it concern you that this seems to be the new norm when we look at the numbers and say, hey, this is better? >> it's very discouraging. we're stuck at a stable but depressing plateau. meth -- heather: ben stein, thank you s much. we will be right back. we understan at usaa, we know military life is different.
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we've been there. that's why every bit of financial advice we offer is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. [ laughs ] dad! dad! [ applause ] ♪ [ male announcer ] life brings obstacles. usaa brings advice. call or visit us online. we're ready to help.
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jon: christmas is coming and prison

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